Well said, Ann. Fact is, nobody is looking for a better mousetrap. However, there are plenty of consumers who will glom on to cooler gadgets. I find it interesting that iPhones, Android phones, and iPads have done so well during worldwide economic stress.

Good point William K. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. At first I thought, this is very cool. Later, I started to wonder about the need for a flexible screen. I'm open to ideas, but right now I can't think if anything.

Yes, that is amazing, Chuck. As this technology develops, it reminds me of the movie Minority Report, where everything is a computer screen and everything is personalized. Talking about new consumer technology, I spent three days in Santa Fe on vacation last week. My son was using his Android phone to help us get around the city. The voice on the phone was very good at directions, but most of the street names in Santa Fe use Spanish words. The voice murdered the pronunciation. My favorite was Gar-sha for Garcia. It was quite amusing.

Yes, that is amazing, Chuck. As this technology develops, it reminds me of the movie Minority Report, where everything is a computer screen and everything is personalized. Talking about new consumer technology, I spent three days in Santa Fe on vacation last week. My son was using his Android phone to help us get around the city. The voice on the phone was very good at directions, but most of the street names in Santa Fe use Spanish words. The voice murdered the pronunciation. My favorite was Gar-sha for Garcia. It was quite amusing.

Rob, that's a good point about the difference in industries. Electronics has acted like the wild west for a long time: make a better mousetrap and hope people will beat a path to your door. A lot of what passes for marketing would probably make someone in A&C or other more industrial environments laugh (or maybe cringe).

Very good points, Ann. I guess I've been covering automation and control too long. In that territory a good deal of technology is developed to solve specific customer problems. Yet even in that arena, technology often precedes need and customers have to be sold on the value of the new technology.

Jack, that's exactly what this appears to be: electronic paper. I admit I don't get how it can keep working after being cut, but I saw the same video. I do wish there was more technical detail available, but the company is holding their cards very close.

I was really amazed at the video of the person cutting the display with a pair of scissors. No apparent damage to what was being displayed. Well, they've been talking about electronic paper for quite some time, it seems that we are finally seeing something close.

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